A month ago Iberia promised 9,000 Avios for each ticket booked. I was initially skeptical, but after Iberia confirmed with me on Twitter that they didn’t mind if you booked tickets that you would actually use I decided to book 10 flights for $27.70 each to maximize the 90K Avios promo.
Iberia promised to award the Avios within 10 days and things looked bleak a couple of weeks ago when I got locked out of my account and a majority of DansDeals readers reported that they hadn’t received their Avios.
Iberia’s Twitter account noticed that post and said they would get to the bottom of things. And sure enough, my 90K Avios posted, along with the Avios of many readers. It took longer than it should have per the promo terms, but better late than never.
My paternal Zayde is having his 90th (ka”h!) birthday party near NYC, so that seemed like a perfect way to burn some of the Avios. While paid tickets from Cleveland to NYC were $451 each, it was 12,000 Iberia Avios plus $20.20 each.
I spent $277 on 90K Avios, or a cost of 0.3 cents per Avios. I redeemed 60K of those Avios plus $101 in taxes for 5 round-trip tickets from Cleveland to NYC that would have otherwise cost $2,255. That’s a value of 3.59 cents per Avios!
That’s less than the 75K British Airways Avios the trip would have required, though Iberia charges $20.20 in taxes per person instead of $11.20 that British Airways charges. Iberia partner awards are non-refundable and non-changeable while British Airways awards can be cancelled for just the taxes paid. Iberia also requires round-trip travel for partner awards while British Airways allows one-way travel. Alas, it does not seem to be possible to transfer the Iberia Avios to British Airways.
On the plus side, Iberia allows flight connections and doesn’t charge separately for every flight leg as British Airways does.
Loading ...Here is a look at Iberia’s award chart for travel on American (You can find flight distances on gcmap.com):
- 90K Avios would be good for up to 8 round-trip coach awards, such as NYC-Boston for 11K Iberia Avios round-trip.
- A flight to/from NYC and Miami would cost 23K miles in coach or 46K miles in business class round-trip
- A round-trip flight to/from JFK and LAX would cost 28K in coach, 64K in business, or 96K in first class. You can transfer 6K AMEX or Chase points and add that to your 90K Avios to fly American’s highly rated first class on that route.
Where will you use your Avios?
Mazel tov. Ad Meah V’Esrim. Will your Zayde be hosting a DDF DO?
Amen. Lol.
Anyone figure out what “full-fare economy” means on the award chart?
Only applicable to Iberia flights. Don’t ask why it’s on the AA chart 😀
During the sign up for Iberia Plus account, I entered random numbers in the passport field. Later Iberia requested to send the passport copy and copy of tickets which I did. Now I am being denied due to the fact passport info does not match. Name and DOB are correct, but not the passport #. What would you recommend at this point?
Did you try to go into your account to correct the information?
I did, but they locked me out…
Try resetting the password on the Iberia mobile app?
I am able to access my account via the mobile app, but dont see where I can modify personal info… can you see if your mobile app can access the personal info page?
Try resetting your password and logging in from a computer.
You can also try setting yourself up as a passenger. i.e. don’t book the ticket for yourself pretend you are booking the ticket for a new person and give your details. I do that when I use AirFrance miles to book a ticket. Rather than using my Airfrance FlyingBlue account, I pretend I’m booking a ticket for a 3rd party and enter my name and my DL Diamond account number
I don’t understand what you are saying he didn’t get his points yet here not giving it to him
I misread — thought he got the points but they were stopping him from booking a ticket because his profile wasn’t right
Dan – so glad you booked and made great use of your Iberia Avios for the family. after needing to send in my passport info and all the confirmation emails my Avios points finally posted last week.
i’m curious about your process of booking your shorthaul US flights. did you rely at all on Iberia.com or did you search on AA.com and call in to Iberia?
i’m looking to use the Avios for NYC-DTW flights or NYC-YYZ to visit family for my wife, daughter and I.
I search for Avios tickets space on AA.com and then was able to book on Iberia.com.
But you may have to call Iberia if the website errors out for you.
copy that. thanks dan! have a lovely time with your Zayde!
I dont know if NyC-Yyz is possible via Iberia, never had luck searching those 2 points.
If AA.com has it for saver then they can book it.
I guess I never followed through with IB as BA is cheaper.
if there’s availability on American Airlines I’m going to take British Airways, I guess this is the only scenario where one would want to take Iberia, or if one has status which allows him to bring another suitcase or something like that and it’s worth paying the extra thousand or whatever amount of miles.
I’m new to Dan’s deals. What are Avios? How do you get them? Someone please explain.
Google is your friend.
Booked a one way jfk-lhr-tlv in business and first. Maybe not the best use, but I sure wanted to fly first class once in my life! Thanks dan
Nice!
Don’t forget to ask for kosher food in the London lounge.
The other way TLV-LHR-NYC is much cheaper
I thought one way only works on iberia metal tickets
It works on BA as well.
I second jew, as per flyer talk and multiple iberia reps (i know dropr). Chaim can u please tell us how its done?
I tried booking a round trip from phi to lax stopping san Diego and they charged me for that extra leg because they said over the phone : “there are no nonstop only that costs 28k connections costt more’
It goes by the total distance flown.
Is it too late to buy the Avios points?
Yes.
I’m surprised you found sAAver space for so many people. all on one flight?
Was there for the taking.
Ad 120!
Were the Iberia miles less than the AA miles would have been? ( I understand in this instance the need to get rid of them quick, but am wondering in general)
AA was 15K.
will 6k transfer from ba to iberia work for this promotion avios? Or only form chase?
It should.
also, i beleive you can do first one and business the other way, which will be 82k lax-jfk
I’ve been trying to use my BA avios for AA but can’t ever find availability. How do you search and find flights? I need to go to Yul from NYC and there should be some availability but according to BA there is nothing ever.
Search AA.com for saver award space and call BA to book.
Hi Dan, what do you tell the BA agent? Do you tell them simply that there is saver award space available on aa.com? Do they charge extra because you’re booking over the phone? Thanks!
I used to take that route quite often.
Recently there has been very few ,if any, flights available.
I bought 4 Iberia tickets for around 100USD or so. Using 34,000 Avios for RT Biz on AA from Dallas to Puerto Vallarta.
anyone know if i can book roundtrip from 2 airports ie nyc-denver and return vail-nyc
anyone know the answer?
what do I do if they never gave me the avios? How and who do I write to?
Thanx
clasica@iberia.es
https://twitter.com/Iberia_en
I sent them an email. They replied today:
“we are sorry to inform you that the details of the identification document do not match the Iberia Plus account information registered in our systems. Therefore, it is not possible for us to activate the Iberia Plus account.
As an exceptional case, if you wish to cancel any of the tickets you bought for the promotion, you may do so free of charge…”
Got a MDT-ORD RT for 17k avios and $20. The regular fare was $435, so quite happy.
Nice!
Newbie question: Can I redeem these Avios if I find Business Saver space on AA.com, even if flight is on British Airways Metal? Can I use these Avios on OneWorld partners? If so, what do I search for? Thanks
Yes.
Yes.
Dan the real question you didnt address was do you regret not stockpiling on more avios then what you got?
Or because you cant use them after the few months they give you and transfers to ba doesnt seem to work your happy with what happened?
I’m happy with that I did due to the expiration date.
Can I book one direction in economy and the return in business/first?
+1 please answer this question somebody
yes
Dan flying in cattle class?? Or have status and gonna get upgraded?
Lol, it’s a 1 hour flight. I’m not that spoiled.
Dan, why did you buy only 1 set? Just curious. I was able to buy 2x for my family using our american and israeli passports.
Don’t need that many Iberia Avios that expire 4 months.
Is there a better way to search for eligible flights? Their search is pretty terrible IMO.
AA.com
I guess I meant eligible flights that include Iberia Airlines, BA, and Royal Jordanian (and any other partners) for international flights as well (to TLV for example) so I can find good flights that look like they might be within 90k points and then just go to Iberia/Avios (https://www.iberia.com/web/redemptionFromIBUPTS.do) to book
Same advice applies.
You can also search on BA.com and Qantas for award space.
Hmmm, I guess I’m just not seeing the same flights on AA.com as I am on https://www.iberia.com/web/redemptionFromIBUPTS.do They’re totally different. Maybe I’m missing something. Is https://www.iberia.com/web/redemptionFromIBUPTS.do the only way to book/use the Avios?
Call Iberia to book those flights, assuming they’re available for saver miles.
I guess I’m still confused. It might be nice to have a post explaining how to use the Avios. I’m not sure what calling would do if I have to ask them about every single possible flight combination across all their partners for a route in order to find out the points required to make a decision. It just doesn’t seem as obvious or clear outside of https://www.iberia.com/web/redemptionFromIBUPTS.do how to use the Avios in a simple and obvious way. But again I very well could be missing something obvious but I’d like to think I have some idea of what I’m doing.
By the way thanks for the replies and for all the deals :-).
Any recommendations for hotel in Maui the ritz Sheraton or the westin
Does the round trip restriction apply on flight originating in Eu as well? say LHR-TLV?
It doesn’t seem like that on their “so called” website.. since they did price it out and process it up to the last stage, but I wasn’t able to make the payment with any CC I tried…
Any Advice…?
When I tried to book by Phone LHR-TLV They said they must transfer me to the EU line because origin in EU… and then after being transferred the agent said that if I cant get it done online I will need to pay $50 fee for getting it done by phone. any advice?
You can book it online just enter LON TLV not LHR
Dan, I finally got my 90K, but having trouble finding any availability on iberia website to fly AA to MIA… I see plenty of awards on AA website, but no matter what dates I put in on ibera.com, none availability found. Am I doing something wrong?
Call Iberia.
Can I book a flight on Iberia to destinations they don’t not fly but their one world partners do like I can with British air? If so how do I do it, I tried putting in the airport codes but they were not recognized as cities they service. Thanks for your help
Did you click on redeem Avios?
I clicked on pay with Avios
Try calling them.
I guess what my question is does it work like British airways where I can book a flight to destinations they don’t service and have them book it on their one world partners that do service the area. Have you booked destinations they don’t service and been routed to partners that do? Thanks in advance
Is anyone else still waiting for their points to post? I had an iberia account months prior to the promotion and booked on the correct site, but my points still haven’t posted. I emailed twice, but still haven’t received anything. I messaged them on twitter but they indicated they are not able to look into the matter and provided me a phone number to their call center in Spain, which when i called was only available in Spanish. Any help is welcome and appreciated!
Dan, what is your take on transferring iberia avios to BA?
Hi Dan, could you pls let me know your opinion on above question? Seems that I can get more value out of my 90K if I transfer to British… what do you think? thanks
I just called Iberia to book a flight but they didn’t have the flight available, so I asked if I can transfer them to BA so they won’t get expire and she did transfer it.
Dan, Perhaps you should give a follow up post on the Iberia Avios promotion? Basically what to do about expiring points… Transfering them to BA?